


so much for a nuclear family

by claruh



Series: my sbi fics [6]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: (other than tommy and wilbur), Adopted Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Parent Sam | Awesamdude, Ranboo-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Sleepy Bois Inc as Family, Technoblade & Phil Watson Friendship (Video Blogging RPF)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:08:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29686506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/claruh/pseuds/claruh
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Ranboo & Sam | Awesamdude, Ranboo & Technoblade & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF)
Series: my sbi fics [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2079549
Comments: 1
Kudos: 146





	so much for a nuclear family

Ranboo had just returned from the crater that used to be L’manburg with Techno and Phil, who went to go check up on the bloodvines’ growth. Phil had been making trips every other day to record where and how much it had grown. 

He sat down on his bed in his newly assembled home and looked around. It was empty. It was quiet. He missed the sound of Techno’s clunky boots against the creaky wood floor upstairs and Phil cursing to himself while crafting things in the basement, but he definitely shouldn’t complain. Phil had built an entire house for him and he needed to be thankful. 

There was a knock at the door. 

“Hello?”

“It’s me.” Phil’s voice was muffled, but still slipped through the cracks in the door. 

“You can come in.” His long legs were pulled up to his chest tightly. 

Phil slowly opened the door, “You okay?” He sat down at the edge of Ranboo’s bed. 

“I’m alright.”

“Are you sure?” Ranboo opened his mouth like he was going to say something, before tugging his scarf around the bottom half of his face so he wouldn’t have to respond. “Ranboo..”

“It’s stupid.” He sighed. 

“I’ve heard quite a lot of stupid things, it’s probably not that bad.”

He smiled into his scarf, “I just.. I don’t know. It feels to quiet here, and I miss being with you and Techno- and I know I still am, but-“ Phil placed a hand on his arm. “Sorry.” He pulled his scarf tighter around his face, placing his head against his knees to avoid eye contact. 

“You don’t need to apologize for that.” He tried to get Ranboo to pick his head up unsuccessfully. “Kid, if you wanna live in the house, you can. We can use this place for storage because god knows that Techno needs more of that.” He chuckled to himself. 

Ranboo picked up his head and dropped his scarf back around his neck, “Really?”

“Of course.” 

Ranboo moved quickly in order to hug Phil. Phil smiled and wrapped his arms around Ranboo tightly. 

“Thank you Phil.” He pulled away and had tears running down his face. His expression was pained as he tried to wipe them off. 

“Do those hurt you?”

“Wh- yeah. They do.” He sighed. “It’s nothing bad though.”

Phil looked concerned, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” He nodded “Mhm.” The tears were falling faster now. Phil dug into his coats’ pockets and pulled out a handkerchief to hand to him. “Do you just carry one of those around?” He was trying to smile, but not very successfully. 

Phil ignored the question, “How have I never realized that your tears burn?”

“I don’t know. I try my best to not let people know because then they feel bad and-“ He stopped to try and wipe his face more. “I think I’m okay now, and don’t ask if I’m sure because I will start crying again.” He pointed accusingly at Phil, which caused them both to laugh

Ranboo’s cheeks were stinging as they walked to the main house, and he kept trying to pat them with the handkerchief, but it wasn’t helping. Once they got inside he immediately went upstairs to Techno’s room. 

“Techno?”

Without looking up from the book on his desk, he replied, “Hm?”

“I have a weird question.”

“Go ahead.”

“This is awkward. Now I feel bad.” He started walk backwards to exit the room, but Techno turned in his seat to face him. “I know you’re not big on the whole.. other people thing.. but uh-“ He paused, trying to think how to ask in a way that would appeal to Techno. 

“Do you want me to hug you?”

“Yes please.”

Techno rolled his eyes before standing up, “Why exactly am I doing this?”

“Because I was just burning myself crying, so you should feel bad.”

Techno paused with a confused expression on his face, “Heh?”

“Enderman. Water not good, so tears not good.” He gestured to his face. 

“Wow.. I did not know that.”

“That’s a first for you, huh?” 

Techno laughed and stood up. Ranboo was one of the only people taller than him on the server, the only others being Sam and Bad, but that was mainly due to Techno’s increasingly bad posture from being hunched over his desk all the time. He stood a few feet away from Ranboo, but before he could take a step closer, Ranboo teleported to right in front of him. 

The air smelled like how it did right before it rains, and purple particles filled the space around Ranboo. 

His knees gave out beneath him, “What just happened-?” He looked up, dazed. 

“You teleported.” Techno sounded shocked. 

He looked down at his hands, “I can do that? Since when can I do that..? Have I ever done that before?” Ranboo looked at Techno frantically, his hands now shaking. 

Techno was still standing awkwardly above him, “I’ve never seen you do that before.” He hesitated for a moment. “Are you okay?” 

“Yea- I think I’m fine.” He began to stand up and immediately almost fell over, but Techno grabbed his arms. “Maybe I’m not.” He looked around the room for a second before his eyes rolled back, and slumped into Techno. 

The purple particles had faded, but the coppery scent was still strong. 

“Phil?!” He had no idea what to do in a situation like this, so he just scooped him up, easily due to his lanky nature, and went downstairs as fast as possible. 

“What is it-“ Phil had just emerged from the basement. “What the fuck did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything!” Phil led him over to Ranboo’s old bedroom and directed him on how to lay him down on the bed. “He teleported across my room.. I don’t know how or why, and he seemed just as confused as me.”

“He teleported?” Techno nodded. “He seems to be developing more enderman abilities as time goes on..” He left the room, clearly looking for something. 

Techno sat down at the edge of the bed, careful not to disturb Ranboo whose breathing was even and slow. He looked peaceful, probably for the first time since Techno had met him. 

“Sorry, I’m back.” He had a notebook in one hand and a pen in the other. “He’s been able to pick up blocks like grass without silk touch, certain types of water burns him, and now teleportation..” Phil was mumbling to himself as he sat down in a chair positioned in the corner of the room. He stood up suddenly, “Can you stay and watch him for a bit? I need to go ask someone about this.”

“Who can you ask?”

“Sam’s the only person I know that’s anything like him.. I’m just hoping he has some sort of answer.” Before he shut the door, he looked at Ranboo and sighed. 

Techno was now sitting in a room with a kid he had only known for a few weeks passed out in a bed partially due to him. He had no idea what to do in this situation. 

“Uh, you probably can’t hear me, but I’m going upstairs to grab my book because watching you sleep is pretty boring.” He quietly left the room and headed back up the stairs and into his room. His book was still lay open on his desk where he had left it. 

When he got back into the room Ranboo was now curled up tightly, but still out. Techno took off his coat and laid it over him since he was too scared to attempt to move him under the blankets. 

So, he sat in the room for a while, the only sound being Ranboo’s breathing and occasional mumblings in some language that definitely didn’t sound human. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and sat up, looking around the room frantically.

He locked eyes with Techno, “Where am I?” He tried to get up more than sitting, but nearly fell face first onto the floor before Techno managed to hold him upwards. “Techno, what happened?” 

“You don’t remember?” 

“Yeah that’s.. kind of my thing.” He sounded angry at himself. “I just..” He trailed off and placed his hands onto his head. “Why can’t I remember?” 

Techno placed a hand on his shoulder, “Are you okay, other than that?”

He looked up, looking vaguely concerned, “Did something bad happen?”

“I don’t know if I should say without Phil here.”

“Did I do something?” He looked down at his hands, his voice sounding fearful. “Did I mess up??”

“No- no, nothing like that.”

“Okay.” He sounded uneasy. His voice got quiet, “Did I hurt someone? Please tell me.”

“Ranboo, listen to me. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Techno grabbed his forearms and pulled him to his feet. 

“Huh-?“ Techno pulled him into a tight hug, and Ranboo gasped before smiling. He was trying his best not to start crying, and he whispered, “Can you please tell me?”

“You teleported.”

“I- I what?” He pulled apart from Techno and sat down on the bed. “I can’t do that though.”

“You very much can.”

His hands were pressed against the side of his head, “No. No, I can’t.” His voice was shaky. “I don’t know how to do that. I can’t.” 

Techno kneeled down, “Hey. Look at me.” Ranboo looked up, tears welling in his eyes. “So what you can teleport? You’re still you.”

“Frankly, you’re horrible at advice.” He sniffled. “Where’s Phil?”

“Went to get Sam.”

“Why..?”

“He is the only half mob that we’re aware of that has any sort of symptoms, or whatever you call them, like you.”

Ranboo nodded, staring down at his shaking hands, “Techno, I’m scared.”

“You can be scared.” They made eye contact for a second before Techno stood up. “I would ask if you want to go outside, but I don’t think Phil would be thrilled if I did that.”

Ranboo made an attempt to stand up once again, this time successfully. He buried his face into the collar of Techno’s shirt. After a moment, he whispered, “Are you ever scared?” His voice cracked. 

“A lot, yeah.”

“Really?”

“Anytime I think you or Phil might he in danger, whenever Wilbur was slowly going insane in Pogtopia, and when I was about to be executed are a few off the top of my head.”

“Oh.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry.. about the last one.”

He pulled apart from the hug and put both of his hands on Ranboo’s shoulders, “Ranboo, you can’t blame yourself for things like that.”

“I know.. I just know no one else would apologize to you for it.”

Techno found himself speechless before he finally replied, “Thank you.” Ranboo just offered him a shaky smile in return. “You should try and get some sleep before Phil comes back.”

“Can you just stay here?” He felt a bit needy saying that, but he felt like he needed company or something else would happen. 

Techno seemed taken aback by that request, but he just replied, “Sure. Yeah.” 

“Cool.” Ranboo sat down on the bed, his legs tucked against his chest. “Are you gunna sit down?”

“Oh- Right.” He sat down next to Ranboo, leaning against the wall. 

“You really aren’t good at human interaction, are you?”

“You can’t talk.” 

Ranboo gasped sarcastically, “Frankly, I’m offended, Techno.”

“Bet you are.”

It was quiet for a moment before Ranboo spoke, “When do you think Phil will be back..?”

“No idea. Hopefully before tomorrow.”

“If he’s bringing Sam here though, who’s going to watch the prison?”

“No one really needs to watch the prison, you’ve seen how complicated it is.”

“Yeah..”

“That sounded extremely suspicious.”

“I had a dream, at least I think it was a dream.. that I was in Dream’s cell. It was not a fun time.” He laughed in an attempt to keep the tears in his eyes at bay. 

“Are you okay?”

“You’re really acting like you care about me today.”

“I do.”

“Wh- Really?”

“Is that really shocki-“ He was cut off by Ranboo hugging the side of him tightly. “Yeah, got it, you need words of affirmation more.” Awkwardly, he pat Ranboo’s back. “How long do you plan on staying like this? I think I filled up my daily hug quotient the first time you hugged me.”

He sat up again, “You hugged me.”

“Whatever you want to remember, memory boy.” 

Ranboo yawned, “Yeah, I will.” He leaned into Techno’s shoulder. 

“Don’t you dare fall asleep on me.”

“Maybe I will, just to spite you.” He smiled with his eyes closed. 

Techno sighed dramatically. Before long, Ranboo actually had fallen asleep on him and he too eventually fell asleep, uncomfortably sitting up. It was better than not sleeping at all, which is what he normally did. 

-

Ranboo woke with a start when the front door banged against the wall as it swung open, and he could hear Sam’s voice rapidly apologizing to Phil. In an attempt to wake Techno up, he poked his face a few times. Techno slowly woke up and swatted him away before pulling on his coat that was strewn on a chair across the room. 

“You coming?” Techno’s hand was hovering above the doorknob, waiting for Ranboo to respond. “Hey, Ranboo.” He looked up at Techno with fear in his eyes. “You’re going to be fine, Sam will hopefully be able to help.”

“Very reassuring, thanks.”

Techno offered him a hand to help him stand up, and so they walked into the main room of the house. Sam was excitedly talking to Phil about something, but stopped when he saw the pair emerge from the doorway. 

“Hey!” Ranboo could tell Sam was smiling under his gas mask. “Phil told me a lot of what’s happened, but I want your perspective too.”

Sam was one of the only people that Ranboo was genuinely afraid of. Not that he had ever been personally scared by him, but his height, his supposed creeper abilities, and now him being the warden of a collasal prison that Dream was being kept in? A little intimidating. 

Ranboo just nodded, looking at Phil for a response.

“You could go to the dog cave.” He smiled in an attempt to reassure Ranboo.

“Yeah.. alright.” He nodded nervously before motioning for Sam to follow him out into the snow. 

They walked for a little while before Sam stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder. Ranboo flinched without even meaning to. 

“You don’t need to be scared of me, Ranboo.”

“I know that.”

“Then why are you scared?” Ranboo didn’t reply. “I can’t magically make you trust me, but please, I would never do anything to intentionally harm you.”

“So you would unintentionally harm me?” He was grinning. 

Sam rolled his eyes under his mask, “Whatever you’d like to believe.”

“Come on.” Ranboo began walking again with Sam close behind. They eventually reached the dog cave and Ranboo mined out the blocks in order to go inside. “Welcome to my destressing location.”

Sam’s eyes were wide with what Ranboo hoped to be happiness. He knew creepers were scared of cats, so he really hoped they weren’t scared of dogs too. Ranboo watched as Sam took off his mask and nearly gasped. There were green hued scales across his face that matched the ones on his arms. 

“Oh, have you never seen me without the mask?” Sam had noticed him staring. Ranboo just shook his head. “Yeah, it didn’t use to be this bad.” He chuckled. “I’m assuming one day it’ll all be scales, but I really don’t know.”

Ranboo just nodded as he sat down next to his dog, standing him up so he could pet him, “Do you wanna sit?”

Sam joined him, leaning against the wall, “So, you’re developing enderman abilities, right?”

“Yeah.. I have been for a bit. I don’t think Phil really connected the dots.” He laughed. 

“What things can you do?”

“Well I apparently teleported earlier.. I don’t remember it though.” He shook his head. “My tears have always burned, I can pick up grass and stuff without silk touch, and uh- I don’t really know what else.” He smiled sheepishly. 

Sam was mouthing something silently as he stared at his raised fingers. He snapped back into reality after a moment, “Do you know what your other half is?”

“No.”

“Hm.” He stood up again, nearly bumping his head against the ceiling. “You’ve said water always has burned, but this other stuff is new.. this is going to sound stupid.” He laughed to himself. 

“Shoot.”

“Are you maybe going through like enderman puberty or something?” He was grinning. 

Ranboo couldn’t help but laugh, “I mean, maybe?”

“Think about it.” Sam stood in front of him, gesturing with his hands. “You have no idea how old you are besides that you’re probably a kid.”

Ranboo stared at him blankly, before a look of realization crossed over his face, “You mean to tell me that Phil and Techno have been freaking out over me going through puberty?” He tried to cover up his laugh by coughing. 

“Do you have any better ideas?”

“No..”

“Then maybe instead of being all stressed about it, we can blame it on that for right now.” Ranboo nodded. “If anything strange happens, just tell Phil to come get me again. I’m more than willing to help.”

“I really appreciate that.”

“Of course.”

“Are you..” He stopped midsentence.

“What?”

“Are you just being nice to me out of pity? Because I kn-“ 

Sam placed his clawed hand gently on Ranboo’s arm, “Definitely not, and I’m so sorry you ever have to be worried about people doing that.”

Ranboo smiled slightly before standing up. He nearly reached down to offer Sam a hand, but rethought it after realizing how much stronger Sam was than him. 

Once Sam had stood up, Ranboo quickly hugged him. Sam almost immediately hugged him back, and he smiled. He wasn’t used to being around people that were decent at human.. well non-human, interaction. 

“I gotta get back to the prison to make sure George doesn’t spend like 10 minutes attempting to mine a block again.” He pulled his mask on again. 

They walked out of the cave and Ranboo filled in the missing blocks, “When did he do that?” 

“Few days ago? It was a very easy fix.” Ranboo could tell he was smiling. “Well, it was nice to see you.”

“Bye, Sam.”

“Bye!” He waved as he walked out into the snow and back to the prison and remnants of L’manburg. 

Ranboo stood out in the cold for a bit, not noticing it until he realized it had begun snowing. He went back inside and snuck up the darkened stairs into Techno’s room. Once again, he found Techno hunched over his desk. 

He peered over Techno’s shoulder, “Your handwriting is really messy.”

Techno jumped in his seat before putting his head in his hands, “Jesus, Ranboo, you can’t do that.” He laughed. “I learned to write w basalt dust, it’s not my fault.” Ranboo looked confused. “I lived in the nether until I was.. I guess 7 or so? Phil rescued me soon after, but it was too late for my handwriting.”

Ranboo laughed, “I’m going to go to sleep, I just wanted to say night.”

“Goodnight, Ranboo.”

He headed downstairs and peaked his head into Phil’s room, when he noticed Phil was already in bed, he just whispered, “Goodnight Phil!” before heading to his room. After a bit of tossing and turning, he eventually slipped into a dreamless sleep.


End file.
